July 14, 2013: 11:30 pm Listening to "Nobody" by Keith Sweat
Solitary Confinement

As promised here I am ready to discuss solitary confinement, or the R.H.U. (Restricted Housing Unit) or the hole. We have a few names for it, the hole, the bucket, the can, the box, etc. I can only give my perspective on the RHU in my home state. First I'll describe it. You are in a segregated building usually, away from all other prisoners. You are placed intoa cell that is about 8 feet wide by 10 feet long (an RHU cell is bigger than the cell I am currently in right now, which is 6x8 feet). There is nothing in the cell except a bed, a metal table with a metal stool. A metal since and a metal toilet. There is a window in the cell but the prison painted over them so no one can see the outside. Prisoners are placed in the RHU for misconducts. YOu can get a misconduct for breaking any rule of the hundreds that are in the rule book. There are alot of staff (Gaurds or C/O's) who do not pick on every dumb rule, but some do and for those who do, they put alot of people in the hole. When you go to the hole you are strip searched on video camera. 4-6 guards lock you in a metal cage and strip search you while video taping it. You have no privacy. They then put you in an orange jumpsuit and lock you in a cell. I am a Z-Code, single cell status only, so I never have a cell mate. I am then locked in that cell alone, with nothing for a minimum of 30 days. When you get a misconduct, you go in front of a hearing examiner. All he, or she, does is determine if you are guilty or not guilty, and if guilty, they give your punishment for the rule violation. The smallest amount of time int he hole is 30 days. But for each rule violation you have broken, they can give you 90 days in the hole. My last time in the hole was for a fight in the prison. I was tired of a guy being a bully so we fought. I received 3 rule violation charges. You get 30-90 days for each one. I got the maximum, 90 days per charge and I was given 9 months in the hole. I ended up doing 8 1/2 months and was released 2 weeks early for good behavior. In the hole you get 3 showers a week. Every other day for 5 minutes. If you're not done, too bad. The water is shut off and you must rinse off in your sink in the cell. You get 1 hour of yard Monday thru Friday in a dog kennel cage. Fenced in cages that are a little bigger then your cell. Every time you leave your cell, and every time you return, you are strip searched naked. Eventually, when the guards get around to it, they do an inventory of all of your property. You are only allowed 4 small boxes and anything left over is mailed home or thrown away. When you inventory your property you are allowed to have your writing paper, a pen, any books you have, magazines or newspapers. Nothing else but reading and writing supplies. Your property remains in storage until you are released. And if the rats get into it and destroy anything, too bad. You shouldn't have gone to the hole. (Thats what you are told). While int he hole you have nothing to do but read and write. For the guys who have no one to write to and no books, they stare at the walls or yell out the cell door all day and night. Alot of guys make chess boards on paper and yell the movmes out of the cell to a neighbor and thats how they play chess. The hole is more mental then physical. I have done plenty of time in the hole. I have been suicidal a few times in my life. When my Nonna (Grandmom) died May 12, 2006, I was in the hole. I cried, considered suicide once again. But thankfully I was at the end of my time in the RHU and was let out after 60 days. I was given 60 days because I was asleep when they announced a re-count over the loud speaker system. I didn't hear it I told them, I was asleep. They didn't care. Anyway, the RHU is mental. It's designed to break your spirit. I met a man recently who committed so many acts of violence, he was int eh RHU for over 15 years. It ruined his mind. he is very ignorant, grumpy, he talks to himself constantly. Imagine being locked in a tiny room for 23 hours a day, but weekends, you don't leave at all, except for your 5 minute shower. The RHU is infested with rats, mice, and roaches. Some prisoners who have been in the hole for months or even years at a time, they are what we call "cell gangsters". They act tough behind the door because no one can get to them. These prisoners will get into a a yard cage next to the guy they are starting trouble with and they will literally defecate (poop) in their hands and throw it on the guy next to them. The hole is designed to torture you mentally. And it does. Everyone has seen the Tom Hanks movie, Castaway, how he is on the island and ends up talking to himself and then to a volleyball (which he names Wilson) due to loneliness. This is how it is is in the hole. I have seen dozens of mentally ill men in the hole who belong in a hospital. Not the RHU. You will see an article I am attaching at the end of this that states how the US Dept. of Justice found that one of Pennsylvania's prisons were found to be in violation of the 8th amendment for it's cruel and unusual punishment on mentally ill prisoners in the hole at Sct. Cresson (the prison is closed now due to a newer one recently being opened, Sct. Benner). The hole was designed as a punishment. In the early ages of prisons in America, the hole was pitch black. Now a days it is bright. The lights in your cell are on 24-7. They never go off. It sucks sleeping with the lights on and no way to ever turn them off. I met a man who was broken, he was in the hole for beating up a guard that called him a nigger. Fred was a pretty humble man, but the guard insulted him and Fred got angry. I'm Italian. I was offended simply because the guard belittled another human being. After about 4 years in the cell. 4 years of having his food spit in, not getting outside for yard, no showers, Fred tried killing himself multiple times. He was transferred out. I never saw him again. Was this a cry for help? attention? I don't know. But I know his spirit, his soul, who he once was, it was gone. Fred was broken. His mind was broken. People don't understand how cruel this can be. Yeah, we broke the law. We are in prison. But alot of times we are punished to the edge and some of us break. I almost broke a few times. And I will sit here until I die and I could break one day. Look at my profile, I am a man. I am human. Some of the things you live through in here, we were not designed for. Human beings need companionship. We're designed that way. We are not designed to spend months or years completely alone, with no human contact. It's cruel. But that's prison, a cruel place. I think I wrote enough about the hole. If you have any questions or comments, please let me know. Time for me to get some sleep. It's about 1 am now and I have to get up for count at 6 am, God forbid I miss another one, that's 60 more days in the hole. Take care, stay safe and God Bless. Ciao.